I do think the girl having some muscle does help the man in getting up and down from the overhead lifts, as well as in most (but perhaps not all) overhead lift positions. Any man would rather lift a 110 pound woman with the muscle to help him (even, I think, overhead) than a 100 pound woman who is essentially a sack of potatoes.

Megan Duhamel comes to mind. She is 48 kg. You are not going to convince me that any partner of hers would rather she weighed less but lost all of her muscle. By comparison Bazarova is 46 kg despite being 5 inches taller than Duhamel. That difference is muscle. You are not going to convince me that any man, given the choice, would not rather lift Duhamel even if you made their heights identical.

Maybe you are right but Duhamel/Radford's lifts not that good (maybe worst in top teams) despite their height advantage.

Maybe you are right but Duhamel/Radford's lifts not that good (maybe worst in top teams) despite their height advantage.

ISU bio says Bobrov is 187 cm and 17 years of age.

I have always thought this was because Radford is one of if not the weakest top level male lifter out there. Sometimes it looks like she herself is making the lift happen. He has some kind of recurring shoulder injury I think.

RE: Bobrov, yes, he is 187 cm which is excellent. Additionally, at 17 years of age, it's VERY possible he too will grow taller, which is really great in the event her height does continue to increase as well.

I agree he's not currently at Davankova's level, but he has potential to grow IMO- he is not a train wreck. As others have noted they can spend a few years in juniors and see how it goes, and honestly, there is almost literally NO ONE who is tall enough for her that is available. Frankly, I think to some degree she is lucky to have found a partner at all. It IS a real pity, because she really IS that good, but height is what it is.

I saw a picture of Radford beside Moscovitch recently, and they were both shirtless. I don't have the link but Radford looked so much less muscular than Moscovitch, pretty lanky.. TBH I think he's a weak lifter. I don't remember what his lifts were like with Rachel Kirkland but IIRC, she was very small when they were together.

RE: Bobrov, yes, he is 187 cm which is excellent. Additionally, at 17 years of age, it's VERY possible he too will grow taller, which is really great in the event her height does continue to increase as well.

I agree he's not currently at Davankova's level, but he has potential to grow IMO- he is not a train wreck. As others have noted they can spend a few years in juniors and see how it goes, and honestly, there is almost literally NO ONE who is tall enough for her that is available. Frankly, I think to some degree she is lucky to have found a partner at all. It IS a real pity, because she really IS that good, but height is what it is.

Enbert is another pair male partner that could potentially be used for Davankova. He is also very tall (189 cm). Gerboldt-Enbert has not been very successful the last few season so there would be another possibility, but I would choose Bobrov because of his age. Enbert is already 24 and by the time the new pair would gel, he would be getting too close to his retirement age. Besides, I think it is Dvankova's advantage to stay a few more years at junior level. There will be too many senior pairs in Russia and some of them won't have the opportunities to do GP events and Europeans/Worlds, whereas Davankova will be able to do juniors with Bobrov and get some points towards world Ranking, which would make their transition to seniors much easier.

AD: We tried out in Moscow. Today we are going to St. Petersburg and will start training there.

Q: Did you like skating with Vera?

AD: Yes, we are very comfortable and like working together. It was a common decision to skate together. On April 14th we went to the skating federation offices and filed a request. The president Alexand Gorshkov officially approved. There were no problems.

Q: How about working with Vasiliev?

AD: I like it. He is easy to communicate to person and is very involved.

Q: Do you have ideas for the new programmes?

AD: We are still looking for the music. There is still not a piece we listened and said `this is it!' but we tried several and now hesitating. Perhaps we'll decide on the final piece soon and will start choreographing.

AD: Very good. We parted warmly, spoke of the pros and cons of our pair. There were no hard feelings or fights. The same with my previous coach Sergey Dobroskokov. We are all in good terms and talk to each other.